Machine for feeding and pointing hairpin blanks and the like



Dec. 4 1923.

E. R. PERSON MACHINE FOR FEEDING AND POINTING HAIRPIN BLANKS AND THELIKE Filed June 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 65 2?, Easom Dec. 4, 1923.. 1,476,416

' E. R. PERSON MACHINE FOR FEEDING AND POINTING HAIRPIN BLANKS AND THELIKE Filed June 9, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 4, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT,GFF1CE..

EARL R. PERSON, LEOMTNSTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSEGNGR TO VISCOLQID COM-PANY, A CORPOEATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING AND POINTING HAIRPIN BLAHKS AND THE LIKE.

Application filed June 9,

To (ZZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, EARL R. PnRsoN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Leominster, in the county ofWorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulMachine for Feeding and Pointing Hairpin Blanks and the like, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention, although capable of general use, is especially designedfor feeding of celluloid hair-pin blanks in straight cylindrical form toa hair pin bending machine, centering them. with respect thereto, andpointing their ends.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide simple means fortaking the blanks one at a time from a hopper in which they are locatedand supplying them to a carrier, to provide a carrier with anintermittent motion, and with means for grasping the blanks anddelivering them to a centering and pointing device; and to provide aneffective and mechanical pointing device for simultaneously pointingboth ends of the blank and holding them in proper position to bedelivered into the hair pin bending machine or other device for furthertreatment. Theinve-ntion also involves improvements in the details ofconstruction of these various parts and in the way in which they arecombined with eachother.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 isa side view or". a machine constructed in accordance with this inventionconnected with a hair pin bending machine to which it delivers itsproduct;

Figs. 2 and 3 are opposite end views of the same, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on the line H of Fig. 1.

The invention is shown as mounted on a frame or base which is alsoconnected with a support 11 for the hair pin bending machine 12. Thedetails oi the hair pin bending machine will not be described the oneshown is described in full in my Patent. No. 1330,4-50 granted Feb. 10,1990. it is provided with a pulley 18 on, a shaft- 14 I which receivespower from a counter shaft 1920. Serial No. 387,567.

above or in any other desired way, and by belt drives a pulley 15 on thetransverse ma n shaft 16 of the machine which is the sub ect of thisinvention.

The main shaft 16 is provided with a worm 17 operating a worm gear 18 ona longitudinal shaft 19 on which is a cam 20, preferably a double cam.The rotation of this cam depresses a roll 21 on a swinging lever 22which by means of a link 23 operates a lever 29 pivoted on the frame 10to lift a feed plate 25 pivoted to its end. The weight of this plate canbe employed to hold the roll 21 up in contact with the cam if desired.

This plate is provided with a concave end at 26 large enough to hold onehair pin blank and no more and this reciprocates up and down in a.hopper 27, the bottom walls 28 of which converge toward the center sothat the hair pin blanks or other cylinders will roll down to the bottomof it and one of them will be lifted practically every time the plate 25rises in the hopper. This constitutes the means of feeding one blanket atimeup out of the hopper until the last one is discharged from it. Thisconcave top 26 is so narrow that there is no possibility of feeding twoblanks at once.

Also mounted on the shaft 16 there is a pinion, not shown, which mesheswith a gear 81 on a shaft 32 provided with another cam 38, preferably adouble cam, which operates a roll 34 on a springpresscd lever 35 pivotedat 36. This lever is provided with a link 37 at its free end to which isconnected a spring-pressed ratchet tooth 38 mounted in a holder 39 atits end. This engages a ratchet wheel l0 and every time either end ofthe cam 33 depresses the lever 35 the ratchet tooth 38 will engage oneor the teeth or" the wheel 40 and advance this wheel the length of thespace between two adjacent teeth. This gives the shaft il on which theratchet wheel 40 is fixed an intermittent rotary motion in the directionof the arrow.

(in this shaft -11 is mounted a rotary car rier Thisis provided withaplurality ot pairs or" spring gripping devices 48 equal in num er ofsets to the teeth of the whee.

t0 and each consisting of two pairs of spring fingers which are nearenough together to grasp a hair pin blank between them and hold it andare spread apart at their ends to permit it to receive them.

The intermittent rotation of the carrier presents the blanks held by thegrip lingers i3 periodically into position in which they can be acted onby the pair mechanism Mounted on the shaft il there are tvo cams 44;each operating a roller to, each of which is mounted on a lever pivotedat at? be tween its ends and pivotally connected at its upper end with aholder 48. On a stationary projection 49 on the frame it) pivoted a link50, the upper end of which also pivotally connected with the holder 48.The holder -18 wiLl move in a slightly arenate direction out and in.This holder is provided with a pulley 51 which rotates a cutter shaft 52on which is mounted a cylindrical cutter 53 rotating on an inclinedaxis. It has spur gear teeth 55 on one side meshing with an internalgear on the holder 48. This cutter rotates around the center with aplanetary motion so as to sharpen or cut a point ona hair pin blank whenit is centered in a conical center with which this holder is provided.This mechanism is duplicated on the other side and it will be seen thatthe operation involves the presentation of the hair pin blank orcylindrical rod by means of the carrier 42 directly in line with thecenters at, at which time the caricr stops. Then the cams 4:4 actuatethe parts just described to bring up the centers 54- and accuratelycenter the blank at both ends, and then to move further in so that theblank will be sharpened at both ends. Then the cutters are automaticallywithdrawn and the carrier 42 takes another step forward, after which theblank is discharged in the following way.

The cam 2-0 operates a roller 56 on a lever 57 connected with a link 58that osciIlates an arm 59 on a shaft- 60 supported by the frame 10 andwhich is provided with ejectors 61 in the form of two or more hooks.These periodically engage the blanks held by the springs 13 and detachthem, allowing them to fall from these hooks and drop on an inclinedsurface (32 which delivers them into a hopper G3 oftlie hai in bendingmachine 12.

twill be understood of course that the form of the hair pin bending ormaking machine to which the blanks are delivered is immaterial, and Iwill not describe the same in detail except to say hat in the form shownthe blanks are fed out of the hopper 63 and rolled along the table Gel;unt l they come against. stops not shown. Then a pluncgn inov "ward tobend the pins and 1 .aoves down to sir e the ,L but any other mechanismcan be employed at this point and the machine which is the subject ofthis invention can be used by itself.

Although I have illustrated and described only a single term of theinvention I am aware of the fact that modifications can be made thereinby any person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of theinvention as expressed in the claims,

Therefore I do not wish to be limited to all the details ofcoi'istrnction herein shown and described, but what I claim is:

1. In a machine for pointing the ends of rod-like blanks, thecombination of a pair of centers for supporting the ends of said blanks,a holder on each side of the machine, said holders being mounted toswing, substantially parallel motion connections for swinging themforward and back, and a cutter behind each center in each holder forengaging the surfaces of the end of the blank and simultaneouslypointing both its ends.

:2. In a machine for pointing the ends of rod-like blanks, thecombination of a pair of centers for supporting the ends of said blanks,a cutter behind each center for engaging and cutting the end of theblank, two holders, a shaft having hearings on each holder forsupporting one of said centers, and cutters and operating the cutter, alever supporting one end of a holder for moving it back and forth, alink connection supporting the other end always at substantially thesame level as the end supported by the lever, and means for moving saidlevers toward each other to center the blank and point both its ends.

In a machine for pointing the end of a rod-like blank, the combinationof a center for supporting; the end of one of said blanks,

a cutter behind the center for engaging and cutting the end of theblank, a movable holder, a shaft on the holder supporting the center andcutter and rotating the cutter, a lever pivotally connected with theforward end of the holder, positive means for operating the lever toswing the holder'inwardly to operative position, and a link pivoted tothe hoder at the same level as the lever is, and pivoted to a stationarypart of tie machine at substantially the same level as the pivotalsupport for the lever for moving said center and cutter forward tocenter the blank and point its ends.

4. ln a machine for pointing the end of a rodlike blank, the combinationof a center for supporting the end of said blank, a cutter behind thecenter for engaging and cutting the end of the blank, a lever forsupporting said center and cutter and moving them into a position tocenter the blank and point its end, and a link for ensuring a parallelmotion for the center. i

5. In a machine-of the characte described, the combination of a rotarycarrier having a series of pairs of radial flat spring fingers eachfixedly mounted thereon adapted to engage the blanks to be operated uponand clasp them by their own resiliency at a distance from the carrier,means for rotating said carrier by a step-to-step motion, a hopper belowthe carrier for receiving the blanks, means for positively moving asingle blank up from the hopper in a radial direction into the spacebetween a pair of said 10 fingers when the carrier is in stationaryposition with said pairs of fingers extending downwardly, and means forstripping the blanks from the fingers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto 15 affixed my signature.

EARL R. PERSON.

